


Woo

by RedHorse



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Freshman Harry Potter, Gaslighting, M/M, Psychological Manipulation, Romantic Comedy, Teaching Assistant Tom Riddle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2021-02-23 08:09:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23141740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedHorse/pseuds/RedHorse
Summary: Nothing comes naturally to Tom, but that doesn't bother him like it used to. He's learned by now how to acquire the skills he needs to get the things he wants. And he wants Harry.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle
Comments: 4
Kudos: 295
Collections: Problematic Ships Flash Fest





	Woo

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [Luxis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luxis/pseuds/Luxis) in the [March2020](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/March2020) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> Same Age AU where Tom stalks Harry for years, gathering info on all Harry's likes and dislikes, until he successfully woos Harry.

Tom sees the boy on the first day of class, how he squeezes into a seat in the upper right of the lecture hall, looking pale and poor and hungry for a hundred things.

Draco Malfoy, who's been chattering incessantly at Tom from his seat in the front row, notices his distraction and twists around to look. "Oh, _him."_ He rolls his eyes. "That's that scholarship kid. The one that isn't even smart, just one of those _legacies_." He shudders like the status is a personal affront.

Tom looks at Malfoy with unreserved amusement and Malfoy's thoughts catch up to him after a moment. He looks abashed, shuffling the things on his desk. "That I'm a legacy is incidental. I would have been admitted on my own merits," he mutters.

It's true. Draco is intelligent, which is why he amuses Tom. But his insecurities are also amusing, so Tom offers no reassurances. Besides, class is beginning. Professor McGonagall has come into the room to wow her new cluster of Freshmen with the power of Physics to transform their worldview. Tom has heard the lecture too many times to retain much of his original wonder, though the rhythm of her words and the current of energy that passes through the students as they go from dubious to convinced will never truly get old.

Especially not when he can see the way her subject takes hold of the boy in the back of the room, until his sharp-angled body is arched over his thighs, long white fingers clasping his knees, pink lower lip dropping down to reveal a row of white teeth, one crooked lower incisor. Behind his round wire-framed glasses, which have the wobbly look of a pair many-times-repaired, his eyes are bright and wide.

Tom wants to be looked at like that. And he wants to feed the boy all the fruits of the Earth, all the things for which Tom once yearned, too, but has learned how to gather.

It's never interested him before, romance. He likes the devoted, but wary, looks that he inspires in his lessers, classmates and underclassmen alike, and the nods of approval and respect he gets from his peers, like Professors and visiting academics.

He wants something different from this boy. Something he doesn't yet know how to get. He feels a wave of familiar frustration, but it's muted. Ten years ago it would have rushed over him and threatened to send him into a rage, but that inclination has been tempered over the years by its fruitlessness. Tom knows how to face challenges: methodically and patiently. When he applies himself, there's nothing he can't do.


End file.
